It's only a couple of weeks until the Autosport International show in Birmingham once again marks the start of a new motorsport season, so we'd like to wish you a Happy New Year! Whether you're a driver, engineer or spectator, we wish you all the best for a great season ahead.

Along with its broad coverage of all forms of motorsport, from oval and drag racing, through GTs and touring cars, right up to F1, the Autosport show is famed for its yearly special features and this January sees the NEC's Hall 20 given over to a tribute of all things Senna. The display will trace his progress from karts and Formula Ford up to four of his most successful F1 cars from Toleman, Lotus and McLaren - definitely one not to miss!

The title fights for many of the British Championships are still to be decided, but those forward-looking folks at the BTCC have already got in early and put some provisional dates in place for the 2012 season.

Once again, there will be ten race weekends with three races each, of which nine can be seen in our event calendar. The missing round will take place at Donington Park on a date to be confirmed (mid May seems a likely spot). Meanwhile, back in 2011, there's plenty of scrapping still to be done...

Here at MSportUK, we're all about race fans getting to the circuits to experience the sights and sounds first hand, and this is our top tip for the season. Mid September marks the return of one of the most prestigious races to Silverstone's already glamorous race calendar - the Autosport 6 Hours lands at the Northamptonshire circuit on the weekend of the 9-11th, and the headline race forms part of both the Le Mans Series, and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

So, what's the relevance of each series, and if you're more accustomed to the joys of Touring Cars, what are these strange spaceship machines that are capable of leaving modern supercars in their wake? Here's our MSportUK quick guide…

With tricky financial times holding back more than a few club motorsport participants (I'm looking for sponsors, by the way...), there are a couple of opportunities out there to try and win yourself that dream drive to set your racing career alight and get sponsors flocking. The most high profile of these currently is being run by Rockingham in celebration of their 10th anniversary.

The circuit has teamed up with the high-profile Air Aisa Renault Clio Cup, part of the BTCC support package, to offer a to drive at the mid-September race weekend.

This weekend sees the World Touring Car Championship make its debut at the famous Donington Park circuit in Leicestershire. This marks a departure for the British round which had found a regular home at Brands Hatch for the last few years.

After a few years in the wilderness, the circuit is now under the stewardship of the Worcestershire-based Adroit group, who have regenerated the venue and are seemingly steering it back to greatness, shaking off the dust of a failed F1 bid and looking towards a bright future.

With the "Rocking and Racing" extravaganza that is the Silverstone Classic only a few weeks away, its organisers have run an online poll to discover the UK's favourite sports car.

The poll which was run on the event website attracted over 3000 votes for the shortlist of 15 hopefuls, with the iconic Jaguar E-type – which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year – taking almost a quarter of the vote. The evergreen Morgan was beaten into second place, with the brutal TVR Griffith claiming the final podium spot in third.

Last weekend saw the launch of the sixth National Motorsport Week, an initiative from the Motorsport Industry Association and the Motorsport Foundation, to generate funds for good causes and develop motorsport in the UK. It's an initiative that we've been aware of since it was launched, but which has never really been promoted with real vigour. This year however, the MSA and Goodwood have got involved and have moved the week to its new prime-time, mid-summer slot, with greater support and a climax at the high-profile Goodwood Festival of Speed. The event often described as The Garden Party of the Gods is certainly not short of publicity or famous faces to draw a crowd.

The Summer Solstice, held on the longest day of the year, marks the middle of the summer and so the middle of what has been a storming motorsport season so far.

Just over a week ago, I made the annual pilgrimage with a quarter of a million race fans to the Sarthe and joined the wonderful folk at Speed Chills for what turned out to be one of the closest fought and drama filled runnings of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With 23 hours and 40 minutes of hard racing already done, the leading Audi R18 and the chasing Peugeot 908 were separated by a mere 12 seconds. And then it threatened to rain...